Toyota Recall Bruhaha

I don't know what it is about this country sometimes. There seems to be such a hue and cry about the "Toyota Tragedy" that awaits Toyota car drivers (notice even the Secretary of Transportation's recommendation to not drive your car if it's a "recall" Toyota model) that it seems all perspective has been lost. By the way, regarding Ray La Hood's comments (which he did later withdraw), could they be because the U.S. government is now in the car business ... and Toyota's a competitor? Hmm.

If Toyota has a true problem, it seems to me that it primarily swings around their apparent disbelief that they could even have a quality issue with their vehicles. And, actually, that's based on decades of excellent production quality and customer satisfaction ... so it's not the worst problem in the world to have. And it's one that can be easily overcome. At any rate, the initial shock seems to have worn off and they see that there's a problem and they're addressing it.

But back to the point I started this article on ... perspective. It seems that about 19 people in the past decade have been killed in Toyota's where it is "possible" that the recall issues (the accelerator pedal & floor mat stuff) were a factor. Please also note that being "a factor" does not even mean that the recall issues are the primary cause of the fatalities. Doing the math, that's 1.9 fatalities per year (with 100's of millions of miles of Toyota driving involved). Now, some contrasting perspective:

1. On average, 90 people per year are killed by lightning (in the United States alone).

2. On average, there are 120 airplane crash fatalities per year.

3. Over 2000 people die every year in Toyota's due to vehicle crashes totally unrelated to vehicle production quality failures (related primarily to incompetent, impaired or otherwise unsafe driving as well as some health problems like heart attacks, etc.).

Now I know it's different if you or a loved one of yours happens to be one of those 1.9 fatalities ... but get real people! There is no reasonably complex device made by mankind that does not have a non-zero probability of some kind of a failure due to inferior design, parts fatigue, etc. And it's the way of the universe. It's certainly the way of every species on the planet. Nature builds and then rebuilds in infinite repetition to get to the solution that allows survival. Our cars have evolved as early designs have been superseded by better ones and, to build a safer and greener vehicle, more complexity has been added. It's life ... and it's progress. I own a Camry, my son owns a Corolla and we both are very pleased with our vehicles. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another Toyota and I'm sure my son feels the same. These are good, well-built cars and the company that builds them deserves to remain in business, providing jobs and excellent products around the world, including the United States.

So the next time there's a big news article on the latest regarding current (or future) Toyota recalls, just remember that this is a very safe vehicle and the problems are being fixed by the company. And think about writing to the producer(s) of the article to request the "other side" of the story, part of which I've presented here (like, you're at least 45 times more likely to be killed by lightning, in the U.S., than by any Toyota recall problem). Basically, let's focus on stuff that's really important, like people talking on cell phones or texting while driving ... those, too, have caused far more fatalities than Toyota's recall issues. I also think Toyota will redouble their efforts at quality control ... which doesn't bode well for the "big 3" in the U.S. Oh, and, if you get a chance, you might take advantage of the bright side of this whole craziness ... buy Toyota stock.